


three times they played hide-and-seek

by xsprinkledheart



Category: Arthurian Mythology
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Fluff, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-10
Updated: 2019-10-10
Packaged: 2020-12-07 19:09:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,157
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20980916
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xsprinkledheart/pseuds/xsprinkledheart
Summary: ...And one time they found each other





	three times they played hide-and-seek

_1\. you didn’t understand the rules, but that’s okay.**  
**_

“Found you!”

Percival’s voice breaks through the mellow chirping of cicadas and crickets in the honeyed summer breeze. He darts out from behind an oak tree when he sees Galahad and tackles him to the ground in a hug. Beneath him Galahad lets out a little yelp, bright green eyes wide as saucers and spectacles hanging askew.

“Is something wrong?” Percival pulls himself off Galahad, dusting the pollen from his dress - grass clings to the fabric and dirt is stained in patches on the pale blue fabric. 

“That’s not how you play hide-and-seek, Percy…” Galahad shakes his head, laughing a little. “I’m supposed to find you, remember? That’s why you were hiding.”

Percival reaches down to pluck a dandelion, bright yellow and crooked in the forest’s grass, and hands it to Galahad with a smile. He spins its stem around in his hand, tilting it this way and that to observe each and every little creased yellow petal.

“I’m still glad I found you, though! Even if I was playing it wrong, that’s okay - you should get something pretty like a dandelion for trying to find me.”

Galahad takes the dandelion and tucks it into his shirt. It pops out against the dull pink color of his shirt. For a moment Percival wonders if he has said or done anything wrong, and begins to fiddle with his pigtails. “Do… do you like it?”

“Thank you, Percy. It’s very pretty. I like it.” His smile is wide and bright enough to blend in with the rest of the world during summer, and Percival smiles back.

_2\. this time you were the one who found me. and i’m glad you did._

“Caught a fever?”

He stares up at Galahad, face flushed pink and dark blue eyes squinty and red-rimmed. Outside the wind whistles, flinging sheets of snow against the castle’s stone walls - inside, however, they are protected by the shield of warmth from the crackling fire. Even though phlegm clogs his throat and every breath is stifled by sniffling, he smiles.

“You found me.”

There are chances Galahad might catch Percival’s cold later, but he seats himself on the creaky mattress and squeeze’s Percival’s hand. 

“”S got to be difficult, cooped up like this when you’re sick.”

“Mm-hmm.” Percival nods as much as he can, curling up beneath the heavy blankets he’s burrowed under. “At least you’re here to keep me company.”

Galahad cracks a tiny grin, reaching over to tuck away a stray strand of dark hair. His hands are cool against the burning warmth of Percival’s face. Here it is silent, save for the snowstorm outside that rattles the castle windows and makes the wind whistle outside.

“Hey, Percy? When you get better, would you want to go outside for a walk in the snow?”

Percival sniffles. “Staying out in the snow for too long while I was on patrol was probably how I got sick. But I wouldn’t mind if it was you.”

“We’d be sick idiots together, right?”

“We would.”

They have their little games of hide-and-seek every now and then. Sometimes it will be one of the knights who seek them out, other times it will be the two of them that search for each other. But now they have been found, and will hide together in Percival’s room till Kay stumbles upon the two of them and warns Galahad that he’ll get sick if he stays with Percival any longer. Still, they’ll hide together, and will have each other’s warmth until they are found in the next round of hide-and-seek.

Percival nudges Galahad. His voice is heavy with phlegm when he speaks. “I love you.”

“I love you too, Percy.”

_3\. i found you this time, and part of me wishes that i had not._

“You found me…”

Percival has to strain to hear him - or maybe he just doesn’t want to hear him. He knows, at least, that he does not want to see what he sees, either: He does not want to see the Galahad after two years of searching, pale and weak and broken and too small in his rusted-over armor. Yet even though he knows that he will not have much time left to say what he wants to say now that their game of hide-and-seek has come to its end, Galahad’s still smiling. Percival has found him - maybe he has not quite played by the rules, but they are together.

“It’ll be alright. We found the Grail, we can go home now, you aren’t going to-”

Galahad gives an imperceptible shake of his head. Percival wishes that he had not found him - or rather, not like this.

“Percy?” He thinks back to their games of hide-and-seek where they would always walk back hand-in-hand towards the castle and for a while occupy a little corner of a world that’d been made just for them. “Could you sing for me?”

So he sings a lullaby his mother would sing to him years ago, before her voice vanished too. The notes are distorted and off key since he has to constantly suck in shaky breath after shaky breath, but he still keeps going. Ready or not, things are happening the way they are right now, and Percival wishes that he was the one being found.

He doesn’t bother finishing when he feels Galahad move for one last time. And he stays there. The game is over. Everything is said and done. He has won - they have won in finding the Grail, and there it sits shining on the altar - but it is no trophy. Not after what happened. So he lifts Galahad up into his arms and drifts away from the dungeon’s shadowy depths.

_4\. we found each other on accident this time. after this there’s no more playing hide-and-seek._

“Excuse me? You dropped this.”

The boy clutching the flowers in his arms peers from behind large-framed glasses. He’s blonde-haired, wearing a frosting-smeared apron and an oversized mauve sweater.  
“Thank you.” Percival reaches for the bouquet of colorful blooms he’d dropped. After this, it’s on his way home to the flower shop where this one will be arranged like the other flowers they have. There are a few things he recognizes when he steps away - the apron’s faded blue logo is the one of the local bakery.

Then he recognizes the face - the delicate-but-sharp edges, bright green eyes. He remembers that face.

“Galahad?”

“Percy?”

It will take a long time since they have started over - but maybe that is better. After centuries of playing hide-and-seek they have found each other again and maybe this time the world will be a little kinder to them. This time they will have more instances of hand-holding and half-hushed “I love you”s and stolen cupcakes and stray flowers that fell out of bouquets. 

They can take their time when they play hide and seek again.

**Author's Note:**

> ok bc i feel like this accounts getting cluttered i'm going to probably move to another ao3 account but before i do here's a percyhad fic i wrote a while back
> 
> EDIT: new acc is now "dreamy_dolly"!!!


End file.
